One of the many murals recently painted in Medicine Hat. (CHAT News File Photo)

By Darren Rathwell

Lacking context

Downtown murals criticized as taking away from city’s history

Oct 12, 2021 | 5:21 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A heritage expert and urban planner with local roots is speaking out against the arrangement of murals that’s come to life in Medicine Hat in recent years.

Jeanie Gartly, who is currently based in Calgary, recently tweeted her concerns with the Hat’s downtown murals, saying it’s art that is taking away from a historic city core.

Some murals, while having positive expressions, don’t directly tie into Medicine Hat.

“Me being a downtown and urban designer, I’m a full supporter of, you know, the historical context of art too, and revitalizing downtown.. (but) vibrant urban downtowns understand their context, right, and you understand that heritage context and you integrate new (design) with it,” Jeanie Gartly told CHAT News.

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Gartly has a history of her own with Medicine Hat. She was born and raised here and worked for six years at Medicine Hat City Hall as planning superintendent (policy & heritage).

“The artwork I see going up (in downtown Medicine Hat) has no connection to a vision or plan or anything.. no meaning.. it has no plan as part of development of the downtown,” Gartly said.

However, Jeff Goring defends the murals, 20 of which his Medicine Hat Mural Fest is responsible for.

“We’ve gone to buildings that have kind of been vandalized or they have tags on them, or ones that are pre-painted,” Goring said.

He says festival organizers kicked off their activities with the painting of a single wall in 2017.

“We just did the word(s) “Medicine Hat”, and did a meadowlark, something native to the community. It’s amazing to see that photo pop up in commercials, (and in) tourism. The Blue Man Group got a pic in front of it when they were in town,” Goring said.

“For a lot of murals really, and a lot of the historical stuff, sadly it comes down to the business owner and what the business owner wants to do,” he added.

But Gartly says a strong downtown vision is needed to protect Medicine Hat’s history.

“It was a vibrant downtown, you know, theatres functioning, several motels, stuff like that. There’s a story to tell in your downtown, and if you lose all of that, and the art and the murals haven’t integrated in some regard, it loses its identity,” Gartly said.

Goring says another eight murals will likely be in the works next summer, and a map of the current artwork will be released this week.